By Jim Coffman
A.J. snookered ’em again at the Cell on Sunday, shortly after Jeff Cox proved he has stones of steel. And in a remarkable baseball game, the White Sox finally turned the tables on the resourceful Rays from Tampa Bay, a team that – despite a history filled with nothing but futility – has refused to falter this summer.
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The Eastern Division-dominating Rays have done so even though they’ve never been close to close (it is tough to contend when you’ve never won more than 70 games – and they’ve only done that once in their two-decade or so history). They haven’t just won nine more games this summer than they ever have before with 30-some still to play, the Rays have also played their best against good teams. Doing so against the White Sox had resulted in five straight wins (three in Tampa Bay earlier in the season and two in Chicago on Friday and Saturday).
Clearly something drastic needed to be done and “drastic” would be a good way to describe third-base coach Jeff Cox’s decision to send Brian Anderson with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Most third-base coaches try to be aggressive in that situation, but pinch-hitter Paul Konerko had absolutely nailed a base hit to left that bounced once before being gobbled up by the on-rushing Ben Zobrist with pinch-runner Anderson still a couple steps away from third. So it was more than a little ballsy (don’t even try to coach baseball without testicular virility – you got that?) for Cox to send Anderson. But it paid off when catcher Shawn Riggans couldn’t handle Zobrist’s two-hop throw, Anderson tapped the plate as he slid by and the game was tied at five.
Oh by the way, the still struggling Konerko (average under .230 going in) was pinch-hitting for Juan Uribe, who came into the game hitting over .340 on the season with runners in scoring position. It seemed like an at-best questionable move . . . and it paid off big-time. A doff of the cap to Mr. Guillen.
Then in the 10th, let’s just say if catcher A.J. Pierzynski hadn’t already earned the title “craftiest guy ever named A.J.,” he just about sewed it up on Sunday. Pierzynski is usually good for one or two unusual heads-up plays per week but he crammed a couple into the 10th inning alone. First he hustled back to first on Carlos Quentin’s deep fly to center, tagged up and advanced to second with one out (thereby eliminating double-play potential and moving closer to the coveted “man on third with less than two outs” scenario). Second, well, settle in because this is going to take a while.
One of the guys who coached a baseball team my son Noah played on this summer often urged his charges to “put pressure on the play.” And that’s what Pierzynski did when he wandered off second base on the ground ball that followed. Of course, if Tampa Bay had executed the resulting rundown correctly (with shortstop Jason Bartlett forcing Pierzynski to commit to returning to second before throwing there), the move would have been remembered as nothing but a bonehead play; Jermaine Dye would have stood at first with two outs and the 11th inning looming.
But Bartlett threw it early and Pierzynski was able to head back toward third. Second baseman Akinori Iwamura then made the same mistake, failing to force the runner to commit to third before throwing and allowing Pierzynski to break back toward second. The standard wisdom is that the best a runner can hope for in a pickle like this is to keep the thing going long enough for the batter to advance to the base where the runner started. Then the situation is a wash (if the runner hadn’t placed himself in a pickle he would have stayed in the same spot as the hitter was thrown out – instead, the hitter moves up to that same spot while the runner is tagged out). But Pierzynski was thinking about something else: he was thinking about getting close enough to a fielder to create a situation in which it was plausible for the umpire to rule interference. Third baseman Willy Aybar took Iwamura’s throw and then chased Pierzynski back toward second. He gained on him and then threw.
At the same time Aybar moved to the side and seemed to get out of trouble but as Pierzysnki headed back toward third again, he moved toward Aybar, stuck his arm out a little and contact ensued. Interference was ruled (the call was another one of those “at-best questionable” deals) and A.J. was awarded third with one out. After an intentional walk, the Rays deployed a five-man infield – one of the ways teams play it when the winning run is on third with less than two outs. While Alexei Ramirez’s subsequent game-winning hit probably would have dropped even if the right fielder hadn’t been playing in right-center, it was still a rarely seen end to an amazing baseball sequence.
The most amazing part of the whole thing? The umpire who made the interference call, Doug Eddings, was the same ump who ruled Pierzynski safe at first on a strikeout during that memorable game during the 2005 ALCS against the Angels, the game in which Pierzynski went on to score another disputed winning run. In that situation, the super-savvy Pierzynski didn’t just break for first after noticing the strikeout pitch was at least close to bouncing in the dirt, necessitating a tag or a throw to first, he paused, waited for the catcher to roll the ball toward the mound and then broke to first.
With Sunday’s victory, the White Sox jumped back into the top spot in the AL Central, but more importantly, stopped a potential losing streak before it started. And Chicago moved another week closer to double-baseball-postseason qualification for the first time in a century.
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Jim Coffman brings you SportsMonday every Monday. He does so out of love. You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on August 25, 2008